Step 1 – Identifying the Issue
The purpose of the paper is to identify and address a federal issue between the US government and Texas state government. This requires examining the history, application and effectiveness of laws at both levels.
Choose one of the following topics:
• Funding and planning for Infrastructure development
• Funding for natural disaster management
• State management of the COVID-19 pandemic
• Participation in refugee resettlement programs
• Environmental policy and air pollution control permitting
• Occupational safety and health regulatory programs in Texas
• Unaccompanied migrant children in state shelters
• Addressing social service needs in COVID-19 era
• Effect of redistricting on minority voter turnout in Texas
Step 2 – Gathering Sources
Conduct research to locate three academic journal articles (aka: peer-reviewed or scholarly sources) that specifically address the policy issues that you selected and meet the following criteria:
Carefully choose sources that provide a variety of perspectives on your selected topic. In addition to the minimum research requirements, you should use high quality sources for essential current events information relevant to your topic. These include academic sources that are not peer-reviewed (position papers), newspaper articles, magazine articles, and other quality or reputable sources.
The course textbook, encyclopedias (including Wikipedia), and almanacs, are reference materials and are not to be listed as sources at the college level.
Step 3 – The Proposal
Submit a one to two page proposal to the appropriate dropbox by the date specified in the course calendar. Points earned for the policy proposal do not apply to the course grade if the policy paper is not submitted.The proposal should:
References provided in the proposal cannot be changed at a later date without approval (see Step 4 below).
An example of a good policy proposal is provided in eCampus.
A fundamental expectation of college writing is that all key arguments, facts, assertions and claims are supported with research (i.e. parenthetical citations). When a source has been cited, you are expected to acknowledge the source in the body of your text and on a Works Cited page using formal MLA citation format. The paper must be completed using the formatting guidelines provided in the syllabus as “Guidelines for all Coursework.”
I do not allow students to recycle or use essays from other courses. You must receive consent from me in order to do so and you will need to provide a solid justification. Please do not simply submit an assignment that you’ve used in another course as it will not be accepted unless approved.
I choose topic “Unaccompanied migrant children in state shelters”